If you missed HEOROT - Roleplaying in the World of Beowulf Beastslayer on Kickstarter earlier in the year, you can now place a Late Pledge and still become a backer, with all the perks that such status includes.
Simply check out the rewards below, and click on the PayPal button for the one you would like to select.
I am pleased to announce my next Kickstarter, which will be launching one week today, on Friday 29th January 2021.
HEOROT (pronounced 'Hay-or-ot') is a rules-lite RPG, designed to be picked up and played with minimal preparation. It is inspired by the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, Viking legends, Norse mythology, and the Icelandic sagas, as well as my own ACE Gamebook Beowulf Beastslayer.
I am continuing the process, begun with 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas, of turning my existing ACE Gamebook properties into other games*, in this case a classic tabletop RPG.
In HEOROT, players take on the role of noble heroes and their brave companions, who are guided through their adventure by the Skald (or Gamesmaster).
18th November marks the birthday of Ded Moroz.
"Ded who?" I hear you ask.
Ded Moroz, as he is known in Mother Russia, or Grandfather Frost, as he is also known further afield.
Morozko was once a powerful and cruel god of frost and ice,
married to the equally unforgiving Winter. He could freeze people and
landscapes at will, including entire invading armies, and while he could be
capricious and unpredictable, he was also known for being wise and impartial.
With the coming of Christianity Ded Moroz was recast as a snow demon but, over time, turned into a kind of Slavic wizard of winter. Under the influence of Orthodox traditions, the character was transformed again and, during the Soviet era, become the main symbol of the New Year's holiday – Novey God – that replaced Christmas.
Today Grandfather Frost is depicted as bringing presents to well-mannered children, frequently delivering them in person on New Year’s Eve.
According to a newly created legend, Ded Moroz was born on 18th November in Veliky Ustyug, a small town in the Vologda region of Russia.
I have been wanting to share this particular piece of news with you since April! And thereby hangs a tale...
After three months, ACX rejected the audiobook, claiming that there were all sorts of things wrong with it - which there weren't - and so Mark re-submitted it to me and I re-submitted it to ACX for approval.
To find out more, click on the audiobook cover below.
First published seven years ago, as part of the Dreaming in Darkness collection, The Serpent's Egg was the first novella I self-published under the Green Man Books banner back in 2017.
Not unlike Krampus the Christmas Devil himself, Perchta is a creature from Alpine myth, a product of the paganism once practised in the Upper German and Austrian regions of the Alps. Once venerated as a goddess, her name may mean "the bright one".
For example, 1st December is the feast day of Saint Eligius – the patron saint of goldsmiths and other metalworkers, including blacksmiths – who died on that date in AD 660. There are a number of legends which are often linked to Saint Dunstan (another smithying saint), but which have also been applied to Saint Eligius.
In the twenty-first century, we have become so used to the idea of Santa bringing gifts to good little boys and girls on Christmas Eve it is easy to forget that not so long ago, bad little boys and girls were likewise punished.
In the Alpine regions, traditionally young men dress up as the Krampus and roam the streets, frightening children and women with rusty chains and clanging bells. In some rural areas the tradition goes so far as to include the birching of young girls! 
